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List of independent bookstores in the United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of independent bookstores in the United States, both current and defunct, which have had physical ("brick-and-mortar") locations. For bookstores with at least 4 locations, see list of bookstore chains.

Bart's Books in Ojai
Booksmith, San Francisco
The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles
Kramers (bookstore)
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge
Bluestockings in Manhattan
The Mysterious Bookshop, Manhattan

Current

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Name State Location(s) Type
Grassrootz Bookstore  Arizona Phoenix African-American
Larry Edmunds Bookshop  California Los Angeles
The Last Bookstore  California Los Angeles
Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural  California Los Angeles
Kepler's Books  California Menlo Park
Bart's Books  California Ojai
Vroman's Bookstore  California Pasadena
Libélula Books & Co.  California San Diego
Mysterious Galaxy  California San Diego and Redondo Beach
Warwick's  California San Diego
Booksmith  California San Francisco
Borderlands Books  California San Francisco
Bound Together Anarchist Collective Bookstore  California San Francisco Anarchist
City Lights Bookstore  California San Francisco
Green Apple Books & Music  California San Francisco
Marcus Books  California San Francisco (2 locations)
Book Soup  California West Hollywood
Circus of Books  California West Hollywood LGBT
Mile High Comics  Colorado Denver
Bloodroot  Connecticut Bridgeport Feminist
R.J. Julia Booksellers  Connecticut Madison
JF Books  District of Columbia
Kramers (bookstore)  District of Columbia
MahoganyBooks  District of Columbia
Politics and Prose  District of Columbia (3 locations)
For Keeps (bookstore) Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia Atlanta
Charis Books & More Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia Decatur Feminist
Quimby's Bookstore  Illinois Chicago
Seminary Co-op  Illinois Chicago
Unabridged Bookstore  Illinois Chicago LGBT
Women & Children First  Illinois Chicago LGBT/Feminist
Prairie Lights  Iowa Iowa City
ACME Comics & Collectibles  Iowa Sioux City
Rainy Day Books  Kansas Fairway
Eighth Day Books  Kansas Wichita
Joseph-Beth Booksellers  Kentucky Lexington
Weiser Antiquarian Books  Maine York
Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse  Maryland Baltimore Anarchist
Lucy Parsons Center  Massachusetts Boston Anarchist
Grolier Poetry Bookshop  Massachusetts Cambridge
Harvard Book Store  Massachusetts Cambridge
The Bookmill  Massachusetts Montague
The Odyssey Bookshop  Massachusetts South Hadley
That's Entertainment  Massachusetts Worcester
John K. King Books  Michigan Detroit
Birchbark Books  Minnesota Minneapolis
DreamHaven Books[1] Minneapolis, Minnesota (established 1977)[2]  Minnesota Minneapolis Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror
Mayday Books  Minnesota Minneapolis
Moon Palace Books  Minnesota Minneapolis
Mager's & Quinn  Minnesota Minneapolis
Black Garnet Books  Minnesota Saint Paul African-American
SubText: a Bookstore  Minnesota Saint Paul
Square Books  Mississippi Oxford
Left Bank Books  Missouri St. Louis
Montana Valley Book Store  Montana Alberton
Gambler's Book Shop  Nevada Las Vegas
The Writer's Block  Nevada Las Vegas
The Lit. Bar  New York The Bronx
Book Thug Nation  New York Brooklyn
Books Are Magic  New York Brooklyn (2 locations)
Community Bookstore  New York Brooklyn
Greenlight Bookstore  New York Brooklyn
PowerHouse Books  New York Brooklyn
Spoonbill & Sugartown Books  New York Brooklyn
Troubled Sleep  New York Brooklyn
Unnameable Books  New York Brooklyn
Argosy Book Store  New York Manhattan
Albertine Books  New York Manhattan
Bluestockings  New York Manhattan Feminist
Books of Wonder  New York Manhattan
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe  New York Manhattan
Left Bank Books  New York Manhattan
McNally Jackson  New York Manhattan
The Mysterious Bookshop  New York Manhattan
Printed Matter, Inc  New York Manhattan
Rizzoli Bookstore  New York Manhattan
Strand Bookstore  New York Manhattan
Womanbooks  New York Manhattan Feminist
Astoria Bookshop  New York Queens
Firestorm Cafe & Books  North Carolina Asheville Anarchist/LGBT
Internationalist Books  North Carolina Chapel Hill
The Book Loft of German Village  Ohio Columbus
Two Dollar Radio Headquarters  Ohio Columbus
The Duck Store  Oregon Eugene
Powell's Books  Oregon Portland
Rose City Book Pub  Oregon Portland
Moravian Book Shop  Pennsylvania Bethlehem
Baldwin's Book Barn  Pennsylvania Philadelphia
Giovanni's Room Bookstore  Pennsylvania Philadelphia LGBT
Hakim's Bookstore  Pennsylvania Philadelphia African-American
Wooden Shoe Books and Records  Pennsylvania Philadelphia Anarchist
City Books  Pennsylvania Pittsburgh
Otto Bookstore  Pennsylvania Williamsport
Hub City Bookshop  South Carolina Spartanburg
BookPeople  Texas Austin
Pariyatti  Washington Onalaska
Chin Music Press  Washington Seattle
Elliott Bay Book Company  Washington Seattle
Fuel Coffee & Books  Washington Seattle (3 locations)
Third Place Books  Washington Seattle (3 locations)
Left Bank Books  Washington Seattle Anarchist
Queen Anne Book Company  Washington Seattle
University Book Store  Washington Seattle
Taylor Books  West Virginia Charleston
A Room of One's Own  Wisconsin Madison LGBT/Feminist
Renaissance Books  Wisconsin Milwaukee
Woodland Pattern Book Center  Wisconsin Milwaukee

Historical

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The following is a list of independent bookstores which no longer sell books at brick-and-mortar stores but did in the past.

Name State City Years active Type
Acres of Books  California Long Beach 1934–2008
Bodhi Tree Bookstore  California Los Angeles (eventually West Hollywood) 1970–2011
The Book Shop  California Hayward ?–2017
A Change of Hobbit  California Southern California[3][4] 1972–1991 Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror
Cody's Books  California Berkeley 1956–2008
Comics and Comix  California Berkeley 1972–2004
Computer Literacy Bookshops  California Sunnyvale 1983–2000
Daliel's Bookstore  California Berkeley 1945–1952
Dawson's Book Shop  California Los Angeles 1905–?
Dutton's Books  California Valley Village (Los Angeles) and Burbank 1960–2006
Eso Won Books  California Los Angeles 1988–2022 African-American
Fahrenheit 451 Books  California Laguna Beach 1968–1994
A Different Light  California Silver Lake (Los Angeles) and The Castro (San Francisco) 1979–2011 LGBT
John Cole's Book Shop  California La Jolla (San Diego) 1946–2005
Lobal Orning  California Topanga 2003–2008
Midnight Special Bookstore  California Santa Monica 1970–2004
Old Wives Tales  California San Francisco 1976–1995 Feminist
The Other Change of Hobbit  California Berkeley[5] later in El Cerrito (now mail-order only) 1977–2014 Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror
Printers Inc. Bookstore  California Palo Alto 1978–2001
A Woman's Place  California Oakland 1970–1989 Feminist
Brian MacKenzie Infoshop  District of Columbia 2003–2008
Lambda Rising  District of Columbia 1974–2010 LGBT
Teaching for Change Bookstore  District of Columbia ?-2015
Washington Bookshop  District of Columbia 1938–1950
World Bank Infoshop  District of Columbia 1996–2016
Haslam's Bookstore  Florida St. Petersburg 1933–2020
Open Books & Records  Florida Miami Beach 1979–1994
Kroch's and Brentano's  Illinois Chicago 1954–1995
New World Resource Center  Illinois Chicago ?
Prairie Avenue Bookshop  Illinois Chicago ?–2009
Better World Books  Indiana Goshen and Mishawaka 2002–2019
Boxcar Books  Indiana Bloomington 2001–2017
Iron Rail Book Collective  Louisiana New Orleans 2003–2014 Anarchist
Daedalus Books  Maryland Columbia 1980–2011
Greetings & Readings  Maryland Hunt Valley 1969–2019
Victor Kamkin Bookstore  Maryland Rockville 1953–2002
Globe Corner Bookstore  Massachusetts Cambridge 1982–2010
New Words Bookstore  Massachusetts Cambridge 1974–2008
Schoenhof's Foreign Books  Massachusetts Cambridge 1856–2017
Marwil Bookstore  Michigan Detroit 1948–2013
Amazon Bookstore Cooperative  Minnesota Minneapolis 1970–2012 LGBT/Feminist
Common Good Books  Minnesota Saint Paul 2006–2019
Coliseum Books  New York Manhattan 1974–2007
Community Bookstore  New York Cobble Hill, Brooklyn 1974–2016
A Different Light  New York Manhattan 1979–2011 LGBT
Forbidden Planet  New York Manhattan Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror
Gotham Book Mart  New York Manhattan 1920–2007
J. Levine Books and Judaica  New York Manhattan 1905–2019
Librairie de France  New York Manhattan 1935–2009
Nkiru Books  New York Brooklyn 1976–?
Oscar Wilde Bookshop  New York Manhattan 1967–2009 LGBT
Pomander Book Shop  New York Manhattan 1975–1990s
St. Mark's Bookshop  New York Manhattan 1977–2016
The Wooster Book Company  Ohio Wooster 1992–2017
Cameron's Books and Magazines  Oregon Portland 1938–2021
In Other Words Women's Books and Resources  Oregon Portland 1993–2018 Feminist
Leary's Book Store  Pennsylvania Philadelphia 1836–1969
Beauty and the Book  Texas Jefferson ?

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Home". DreamHaven.
  2. ^ Our Store History, last visited Dec. 29, 2015.
  3. ^ Duke Helfand, "For Science Fiction Fans, Old Habit Dies Hard : Change of Hobbit Devotees Are Already Mourning Bookstore Demise", Los Angeles Times, Feb. 10, 1991.
  4. ^ Sherry Gottlieb, "Escape Velocity: A History of A Change of Hobbit Bookstore".
  5. ^ Bullock, Ken (August 10, 2010). "The Other Change of Hobbit is Living in South Berkeley". The Berkeley Daily Planet.
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